A. No person may take, kill, or catch or attempt to take, kill, or catch any nongame fish from the waters of this state or assist in any such endeavor in any manner except as follows:

1. By all legal hook and line methods in state waters legally open to these methods; and

2. By nets or seines used to take nongame fish only in such waters as are declared open to such nets or seines by the Commission. Such nets or seines shall:

a.be hoop nets with a mesh size no smaller than three-inch square mesh, or gill nets, trammel nets, or seines with a mesh size no smaller than four-inch square mesh, and

b.have the name and address of the owner attached thereto if the net is to be left unattended, and

c.be attended once every twenty-four (24) hours.

Each license holder shall be limited to a maximum of three hundred (300) feet of net or a total of four hoop nets in the water at any time.

No fish taken pursuant to this noncommercial netting provision can be sold or transported from the state.

Noncommercial netting shall be prohibited statewide during April and May annually; and

3. By arrows, gigs, ropes, grab hooks, spears, and spearguns used by divers equipped with self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Such gigs or spears may have no more than three points with not more than two barbs on each point; and

4. By noodling; and

5. By cast nets and handheld dip nets used to take only nongame fish as bait for personal use in all waters of the state except those closed by the Commission. The cast nets shall have a mesh size no greater than three-eighths-inch square mesh; and

6. By trawl nets pulled by motor-driven boats. Such nets may be used to take only nongame fish as bait for personal use in all waters of the state except those closed by the Commission. Trawl nets may not exceed three (3) feet in diameter with no greater than three-eighths-inch square mesh.

B. The Commission shall have authority to designate by regulation areas, waters of this state, or parts thereof for the taking, catching, or killing of nongame fish by noodling or by the use of arrows, gigs, cast nets, dip nets, spears, ropes, grab hooks, and spearguns used by divers equipped with self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, and to also designate the times such may be used.

C. 1. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, any person convicted of violating the provisions of this section shall be punished by the imposition of a fine not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).

2. Any person convicted of violating the provisions of this section by netting, snaglining or selling nongame fish shall be punished by imposition of a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Any person, upon conviction of a second or subsequent violation of the provisions of this section by netting, snaglining or selling nongame fish when said violation occurred within two (2) years of a previous conviction for violating said provisions, shall be punished by imposition of a fine of not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) nor more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. In addition, all fishing licenses and all fishing privileges within the state of such person shall be revoked for a period of one (1) year from the date of such conviction.

D. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the taking of nongame fish by licensed commercial fishing and commercial minnow seining as provided for in Sections 6-201, 6-202 and 6-401 of this title.

Laws 1974, c. 17, § 6-303, emerg. eff. April 8, 1974; Laws 1975, c. 43, § 1; Laws 1981, c. 193, § 1; Laws 1982, c. 36, § 2, emerg. eff. March 26, 1982; Laws 1983, c. 85, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1983; Laws 1984, c. 6, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1984; Laws 1986, c. 57, § 4, eff. Nov. 1, 1986; Laws 1989, c. 353, § 5, emerg. eff. June 3, 1989; Laws 1991, c. 182, § 43, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.

NOTE: Laws 1986, c. 51, § 1 repealed by Laws 1989, c. 353, § 5, emerg. eff. June 3, 1989.